Pulwama Bomber Was Radicalised After Cops Forced Him to Rub Nose on Ground, Beat Him Up, Say Parents

"We are in pain in the same way the families of the soldiers are, the attacker's father said.

Video Grab of Adil Ahmad alias Waqas.

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Adil Ahmad Dar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist behind the worst-ever attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in which 40 jawans were killed, exemplifies how deep-rooted resentment among local youths is being tapped by terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

The suicide bomber, who killed 40 CRPF men, joined a militant group after having been beaten by troops three years ago, his parents told news agency Reuters on Friday.

The 20-year-old’s father said the incident, which took place when Dar was still in school, may have changed him from the simple person he once was.

“Once he was returning from school when was detained by the police and asked to rub his nose on the ground. The men forced the boy to make a circle around their jeep with his nose," Scroll quoted his father Ghulam Hassan Dar as saying.

Ghulam, a door-to-door fabric salesman, recalled that Dar felt it was very humiliating and would remember the incident again and again, asking why they did this to him.

"We are in pain in the same way the families of the soldiers are," he said, adding that his son had been radicalised. He said Dar was beaten up and harassed, adding that the students were accused of stone-pelting. "Since then, he wanted to join the militants."

The attacker’s mother, Fahmeeda, corroborated her husband's account. "He was beaten by troops a few years back when he was returning from school," she said. "This led to anger in him against troops."

Both parents said they were unaware of their son's plan to attack the convoy. “I desperately wanted him to quit militancy. We made many efforts but we were not successful,” Dar’s mother told the mourners gathered at her house.

Without a body to bury, the family performed Dar’s funeral in their village in the Kakapora area of Pulwama district on Friday, a day after the car bomb attack.

Meanwhile, security forces placed a blockade on the road a few kilometres ahead and stopped vehicles from moving towards Dar’s village.

Adil, who is also known as "Adil Ahmad Gaadi Takranewala" and "Waqas Commando of Gundibagh" joined the Jaish-e-Mohammad last year, after dropping out from school.

Adil grew up in a village which is only 10 km away from the site where he was trained by the Pakistan-based terror group for months, undertaking “initial ground work” and initiating “small acts of violence”.

Minutes after a ghastly suicide attack, Jaish-e-Mohammad had released a pre-recorded video of Adil.

Addressing North Kashmir, in the video, Dar said, people in South Kashmir have been fighting against India and that it was now time for people from north and central Kashmir as well as Jammu to join them.

"By killing few of our militant commanders, you can't weaken us," the suicide bomber said in the video. He also mentioned the recent sniper and IED attacks against security forces in Kashmir.

This is the second fidayeen attack carried out by JeM in the last 13 months. Last year in August, three JeM fidayeen militants had attacked the police headquarters in Pulwama, in which five security personnel were killed.